Rip, store & play cd collection

[CityFox]

Hi , got approx 800 cds and want to be able to rip, store and play them through traditional hifi system . Are routes like Bluesound , Brennan , hifi Rose etc a good route to take ? Not sure I can get my head around PC’s , Nash drives and how these hang together and how to access and play . Something relatively simple for the confused 🙂 Currently got a Marantz PM8005 Amp and ND8006 CD and Concept turntable . Thanks in advance

 

[Al ears]

Hi , got approx 800 cds and want to be able to rip, store and play them through traditional hifi system . Are routes like Bluesound , Brennan , hifi Rose etc a good route to take ? Not sure I can get my head around PC’s , Nash drives and how these hang together and how to access and play . Something relatively simple for the confused 🙂 Currently got a Marantz PM8005 Amp and ND8006 CD and Concept turntable . Thanks in advance

I just rip them on my PC, with suitable software, and save them to an external portable USB hard drive.
USB hard drive then connected to my CD player.
However, if you have that many to do, it's going to take ages whichever route you take.

 

[Gray]

There have been several threads on this forum dealing with the subject, which you might find useful for answering specific questions - but feel free to ask specific questions.

A mate of mine has just bought a Brennan for simplicity - but simplicity isn't everything and if you can use a PC at all, then a few of us recommend EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for ripping CDs into FLAC files.

Once you've got the files AND BACK UPS on hard drives....you've got plenty of playback options from the likes of Wiim etc.

You will need plenty of time and patience (especially if you want all your metadada / album art to be optimised).

 

[Dave_]

However, if you have that many to do, it's going to take ages whichever route you take.

I think if I had to do it again, and had hundreds rather than the several thousand I had to rip, I'd seriously consider employing the services of the likes of Ripcaster to do it for me.

CD Conversion Service | ripcaster.co.uk

ripcaster.co.uk

£720 to rip 800 CDs doesn't actually sound unreasonable to me, compared to the wasted time and tedium of doing it myself

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

I would also recommend EAC for ripping. It can be a bit daunting to setup properly but, online guides are available, e.g. https://wiki.lyrion.org/index.php/EACInstall

 

[GroeneLeeuw]

For storage and playback of the ripped files, an Eversolo like the DMP-A6 is a good option (plus you add a very good streamer) as you can store up to 4TB(or 6TB even, I´m not sure) which is more than enough for your 800 CDs.
As to connect to your amp, simple RCA cables will be enough.

 

[RJW232]

Hi , got approx 800 cds and want to be able to rip, store and play them through traditional hifi system . Are routes like Bluesound , Brennan , hifi Rose etc a good route to take ? Not sure I can get my head around PC’s , Nash drives and how these hang together and how to access and play . Something relatively simple for the confused 🙂 Currently got a Marantz PM8005 Amp and ND8006 CD and Concept turntable . Thanks in advance

Something simple is just play CD's. I ripped all my CD's years ago, but bought a CD player again, because it's much nicer to play CD's than fiddling on a smartphone screen to find the albums. And if I don't want to play a CD, I stream the music from Tidal.

 

[nopiano]

I have pondered this possibility a few times and always decided to stick with physical discs. Like @RJW232 I am content with that. I realise I’m lucky to have the space to keep all the CDs and various players.

However, if I needed to change and store CDs away, I’d be looking at the Innuos Zen or Zenith devices. I’m sure others can do similar but you just pop the CD in, and it copies, stores, indexes etc., then pops the CD out. They range from affordable to state of the art. The app is good and well supported, which is vital unless you’re able to go the PC and NAS/USB route.

 

[Vincent Kars]

My preference is to rip them on a PC. Yes it is a job and you better do it right the first time so use good ripping software supplying the right meta data (tags).
My preference is dBpoweramp:

• It is fast and stable.
• Easy to configure.
• It supports AccurateRip (they invented it)
• Meta data from GD3, Discogs, SonataDB, Musicbrainz & freedb
• Also a versatile format converter

Rip to a lossless format. I do think FLAC is the best choice

• Lossless.
• Excellent tagging support including cover art.
• Custom tags stored in the file.
• Checksum stored in the file. This allows you to verify if the audio is corrupted.
• Plays gapless
• Wide support on Win, OSX, Linux, Android.

You need a library manager to maintain your collection. You might also use it for play back. Have a look at MusicBee

How to get the music to your amp? A very simple one is to use a 3.5 (headphone out) to 2x RCA to connect PC and amp. You can improve on the onboard audio by using a good quality USB DAC. This is what I call direct playback and this is my preference. It is snappy, allows for custom tags and is simple to configure.

You might go a more complex way called streaming. You configure any computer in the LAN (your PC, a NAS) as a UPnP server. Sounds complex but this is what happens if you turn on media sharing on a PC or a NAS (Qnap, Synology). You need a streamer like a WiiM. If your amp has analog inputs only, choose one with a good DAC. You use the WiiM app to control playback.

My take on ripping: https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/Ripping.htm

 

[Andrewbanks1964]

Hi , got approx 800 cds and want to be able to rip, store and play them through traditional hifi system . Are routes like Bluesound , Brennan , hifi Rose etc a good route to take ? Not sure I can get my head around PC’s , Nash drives and how these hang together and how to access and play . Something relatively simple for the confused 🙂 Currently got a Marantz PM8005 Amp and ND8006 CD and Concept turntable . Thanks in advance

Please don’t touch Brennan. It’s garbage, cheaply made and with a terrible DAC. It not proper Hifi…it’s like Bang and Olufsen without the good looks.. for ease of use try the Inuous range. Like the Zen Mini. I ripped 6000 CDs with this and only 30 didn’t rip. Almost all of the names were correctly recorded and editing the names is simple.

Playback is also very easy and user friendly. But best of all is the sound quality, it’s excellent, especially if you get the separate power supply with it.

I didn’t get the Zen power supply preferring a Teddy Pardo unit, very happy with that. The Zen has a very decent DAC although I don’t use its DAC as I plug it into a CARY DMS700 streamer..

You can get a used one from about £1200. The Zen Mini isn’t embarrassed in my system where the other components are 10x more expensive. If you want it as a main source it is very good indeed.

But please don’t touch Brennan! It’s joke-fi.

 

[nads]

Get a NAS rip with EAC sorted.

What you use for playback is up to you and what format you rip to.

Flac.